There was a time when people were racially segregated and treated differently because their skin color was tinted a different shade. Society has become a lot more accepting to date but in the past, artists struggled with their artistic expression and identity. The famous, African-American artist, Romare Bearden used his artistic methods to express the tragedies African-Americans had to endure but he had to do so without causing controversy within the real world. In “The Art of Romare Bearden” by Ralph Ellison, he describes the difficulty that the true artist had with being an African-American and fitting into that culture as well as having their art be socially accepted from White America.
Throughout the entire article, Ralph Ellison interjects his opinion on our society. Ellison feels like the American society is imbalanced and turns a blind eye to diverse cultures. He explains that a true artist ignores the social imbalance while creating a piece of art and “dominates all the world” through their artwork (Ellison 674). A true artist is also able to reveal unseen issues. Ellison describes Romare Bearden as being the definition of a true artist.
Since Bearden evolved in a time where African-American artists were not too popular, he was forced to break through the mold and create a name for himself and his people. This is where everything became tricky. Many people in society were not accepting when it came to African-American artists and Ellison argues that these artists had a difficult time fitting in to a White America because segregation was unfortunately prevalent. Ellison describes a myth where people use to believe that African-Americans were alienated from society. There were two sides to this myth. On one side you had mainstream America where people believed that America did not include anything that had to do with African-American culture. On the other side were the African-Americans that had it engrained in their minds that society was racist and therefore they did not even try to become artists because they felt like they would be segregated against. This myth deemed true in Bearden’s mind for a long time which is why he did not evolve as an artist in the beginning.
Even though Bearden was a true artist he truly had difficulty trying to fit in to a different culture. Bearden had a negative outlook on the world because of the predicaments he had been through and his experience shaped his reality and artwork. Bearden was stuck in the mindset that he did not have much of a chance to blossom as an artist because he was a minority unlike someone like Picasso who had no problem evolving into a popular artist. Some will argue this was not the case because talent is talent and you do not automatically know a person’s race by looking at a painting. However, since Bearden constantly felt this way, Ellison described that Bearden wanted to define the African-American identity through paintings and collages and reclaim justice for his people. There was always a constant battle between sticking up for his race through art and leaving his mark on the world through art. It was hard as a minority artist to balance race, culture and individuality through art.
A popular piece of art that voiced the issues within the African-American society was a painting Bearden did to describe the Depression in Harlem. In this piece he illustrated the people and the surrounding conditions. Before this, it was nearly unheard of to translate the African-American experience to art. Bearden unearthed what society was trying to conceal through his paintings by illustrating scenes that everyone already knew about. Bearden took on the responsibility and gave a voice to the people that were not able to speak for themselves by recreating traumatic incidences in history.
Although Bearden was faced with much opposition, he conquered his struggles and evolved as a successful artist and became socially accepted within White America. It was difficult for Bearden to balance trying to be an individual and fit into both cultures. Many artists faced this difficulty and unfortunately not many were able to succeed and leave the mindset that all society was racist. Many scholars will disagree with people like Ellison’s and Bearden’s mindsets on society and minority artists. Personally, being a minority and also living in a socially accepting time allows me to see both sides of the spectrum. I understand that the time period Bearden lived in was very difficult and minorities struggled to make a difference and voice their opinions. However, if Bearden was alive now and creating pieces he would automatically be accepted based on pure talent. The evidence that Ellison posed in this article was very convincing. He explained that times were hard, meaning racially segregated, when Bearden was evolving as an artist. The fact that Bearden still made a voice for his people and left an individual mark on society through his artwork deemed him as a very talented artist.
Works Cited
Ellison, Ralph. "The Art of Romare Bearden." Jstor.org. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25088793?seq=1>.
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